


Kill Codes.

by Kitty_Kinneas



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-04-21
Packaged: 2018-01-20 05:33:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1498537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty_Kinneas/pseuds/Kitty_Kinneas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve gets a dressing down after his actions on the helicarriers.<br/>(Warning: Spoilers for Winter Soldier)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kill Codes.

It was good to sleep in his own bed. Soft it might be, but it was growing familiar and he'd missed it during his stint in hospital.

 

SHIELD... or Hydra or... whoever had cleaned up after Fury's attempted assassination, leaving his apartment as though nothing had even happened there.

 

He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, but the light filtering through the windows was red-gold. He guessed early evening. Something had woken him, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, the same senses that had alerted him in the elevator. He reached for his shield, then remembered it had fallen in the river.

 

Cursing low, he silently opened the bottom draw and took out the flashy handgun Tony had insisted on giving him. It was a little dusty, but that wouldn't matter. He took the safety off, cocked it and crept across the room, feeling faintly vulnerable in his shorts and tank top. After all, everyone had been trying to kill him lately...

 

There was a clunk and a whispered curse, giving him a good idea where his 'visitor' was in relation to the rest of the apartment. He measured each step along the hall, then swung around the corner in the uncertain light.

 

“ _Jesus,_ fuck!” the man spat, his hands jerking up in surrender. The tumbler he held slipped from his grip to shatter on the floor and Steve was literally a hair-trigger away from putting a bullet in Tony Stark's brain. His brown eyes crossed a little as he glanced up at the muzzle of the gun almost pressed to his forehead.

 

“Tony?!”

 

“He-hey, Cap,” laughed Tony nervously.

 

They stood awkwardly for a few moments. Tony cleared his throat.

 

“Um...”

 

Steve snapped the gun down alongside his thigh, flicking the safety back on.

 

“I nearly shot you!” he cried, edgy and twitchy.

 

“No shit,” Tony drawled, far calmer. “You made me drop my whiskey...”

 

“I don't have-”

 

“Brought my own.”

 

He picked up a bottle from the counter and waggled it at Steve.

 

The super soldier watched him dumbly as he took down a fresh glass, took ice from the freezer and poured the whiskey over it. He drank, then pointed with the glass to the mess on the floor.

 

“You should clean that up before you cut yourself.”

 

Mindlessly, Steve moved to do so, and he was done before he thought to say; “What the devil are you doing here? And how did you get in?”

 

Tony snorted.

 

“Please. Your security is all Starktech.”

 

Steve bristled at his condescending tone.

 

“You should look into bug sensors.”

 

Tony scowled.

 

“Fucking Fury. He outfoxed Jarvis. It won't happen again.”

 

“What are you _doing_ here, though?”

 

More scowling, this time directed at Steve.

 

“You,” he said shortly. “You and the Pet Spider and that bloody wannabe Birdman... You ordered my babies to _fire_ on each other!”

 

Steve looked blank.

 

“What?”

 

“The helicarriers.”

 

“Hydra-”

 

“Yeah, but who do you think drove the R and D?” Tony said a making a 'duh' face and gesturing at himself.

 

Steve's eyes narrowed.

 

“You were involved?”

 

“Balls deep, baby,” Tony affirmed around a mouthful of whiskey, lips drawing back from teeth as he swallowed. “Whoo, that burns.”

 

“And you didn't pin Hydra either?!”

 

“I only worked the hardware and software of the carriers, Cap. Not the Grand Plan and not the satellites. Thought that was odd at the time, the satellite thing I mean, but I was distracted by the sheer badassery of the helicarriers.” A pause, then; “Which. By the way. You damnwell destroyed.”

 

“They were gonna kill billions of people!”

 

“Eh, people are overrated.”

 

“Tony. They threat-assessed and targeted _you_.”

 

“Have you been listening _at all_?” Tony said suddenly, out of left field as far as Steve was concerned.

 

“Wh...?”

 

“I basically developed those damn things from the repulsors up. One heavy duty Arc for each at her heart, coding for pinpoint targeting, three-sixty degree manoeuvrability, built in inertial barriers, chameleon circuits... damn.” He purred. “Beautiful. And _you_! You blew them the hell up!”

 

“What _else_ was I supposed to do?!”

 

“All those systems, Rogers. All that hardware – I built in my own private Kill Codes. You know. Just in case of a batfuck crazy organisation trying to take over the world. _Use_ the fucking Starkphone I gave you!”

 

Steve stared at him, computing this, then he glared back.

 

“Yeah well, payback's a bitch, I hear,” he muttered.

 

This brought Tony up short due to confusion both at Steve's claim and his use of the word 'bitch'. Tony was almost sure he'd  _never_ heard Steve swear. Unless 'holy cow' counted. Which it didn't.

 

“I'm sorry, what?” he said eventually.

 

“ _You_ didn't use the damned Starkphone you gave me during all the Extremis business! First I hear is you're _dead_ , Malibu shot to bits. First _any_ of us hear! And you go breaking into _my_ apartment to lecture _me_ on not picking up the phone?!”

 

Tony blinked a few times.

 

“That... I...” he said haltingly.

 

“You have no idea. What that was like. And no one even bothered to tell us personally. We all had to find out through the _media_. I was in damned _Times Square_ when it flashed up on every screen in the place. I could barely stand up.”

 

Tony didn't want to think about the bond this suggested between them. He felt it too, gut deep, the connection of a shared experience. The trust they had put in each other, finally, when the original helicarrier was plunging from the sky, and again on the streets of New York. It was easier to make light of it.

 

“Oh, Honeybear, I didn't know you cared,” he teased.

 

Steve scowled, a big 'fuck you' that he would never say written across his stupid-perfect features. He looked away instead, hands on hips, jaw twitching.

 

“Get out of my apartment, if you're just going to taunt me.”

 

Tony studied him.

 

“Were you really that upset?” he asked curiously.

 

Steve's eyes flicked back to him.

 

“As worried as you were about the stupid carriers. But I know machines mean more to you than actual life.”

 

Tony scowled.  
  
“That's out of line, soldierboy. You-”

 

“Is it?” Steve demanded, getting right up in Tony's space. “I _was_ upset when I thought you were dead. You're only here because of your precious creations.”  
  
“That's not what I meant. I'm not-”

 

“Get out,” Steve cut across him, nearly toe-to-toe. “You make me so angry. You treat people like they don't matter, but you come to my place to tell me off because I took down a system that would have slaughtered millions – you included.”

 

“But I had-”

 

“The Kill Codes. Yeah. Well. Forgive me for not calling someone who didn't bother to call me in the same situation.”

 

“Cap, I-”

 

“ _I_ have nothing left. No one. The Avengers are it. I thought we were friends, but I guess I was wrong. We're just allies. And even that is tenuous. Just. Next time you die, at least have one of your people call and tell us about it.”

 

“But, Steve-”

 

“Get _out_.”

 

He was such a hothead. So righteously indignant that nothing was going to stop his head of steam. And as much as it pissed Tony off, that self-righteousness and unconscious, certain arrogance, he admired it too. He'd grown up on stories of Captain America, and he hadn't lied when he told Loki the man lived up to the legends. He could only wish he was that certain, that... plain  _good_ .

 

Shit, and he was attractive, in the golden half-light that dusted his hair and picked out the dips and rises beneath the tank top he wore.

 

“Tony,” he growled when the man didn't move, and damned if the tone of it didn't go straight to Tony's gut.

 

Reckless, and perhaps a little tipsy, he caught hold of the tank top straps and pulled himself up on his toes.

 

“I was worried about you, too,” he whispered, and pressed his mouth to the stunned o of Steve's.

 

Steve made a surprised sound and pushed him. Tony stumbled back and Steve pressed the back of his hand to his mouth, blinking hard, like he might cry.

 

“Don't... Don't _play_ with me, Tony. It's not fair,” he whispered.

 

“Who's playing? I'm not playing. Kissing is serious business. I only do it with attractive people.”

 

Steve turned away, shoulders tense.

 

“Everything _is_ just a joke to you, Stark. Well this isn't a joke to me.”

 

“It's... not. Steve. I wouldn't do that... Not to you. Not as a joke.”

 

“Then why? Why would you...?”

 

“Because, Captain, you're _really_ attractive, if you hadn't noticed. And I... well... I'm not averse to a bit of fooling around with another guy.”

 

“A bit of... Dammit, Tony. Is that all I am to you? A bit of fooling around? Someone to tease and take the mickey out of?”

 

“No, that's not what I... You're twisting my words. And anyway, it's not like you'd _want_ anything serious from me.”

 

Steve looked at him, then, with that intensity Tony had caught on the battlefield, or when a new problem presented itself, or when he was learning something new. That intensity that grew when he was angry – which was the very reason he tended to needle Steve. To his mortification, he felt a blush beginning at the collar of his expensive shirt.

 

“I _certainly_ don't want just a bit of fooling around,” Steve said slowly. “It's all or nothing with me, Stark.”

 

For once, Tony was caught speechless. Was Steve actually...? Could he really be...?

 

Staring, his mouth hanging open a little, Tony didn't move when Steve approached him. Steve's hand slid up his tie where it rested against his chest, and he swallowed hard.

 

“I haven't... with another guy... since B-Bucky.” They both ignored the hitch in his voice on the name. “But you... Tony Stark... you're _fascinating_ to me.”

 

Tony was dumbstruck by this admission. For once, his quick tongue and quicker mind failed him.

 

“Um,” he said.

 

“You are, though,” Steve said, apparently taking this for disagreement. “You're so sure of yourself... and not afraid to just... be Tony. I wish I could just be Steve.”

 

“You can...” Tony said, hating the sorrow in Steve's eyes. “Nothing's stopping you except your overinflated sense of duty and obligation. Fuck them. Fuck every single one of them. They can't make you do anything. SHIELD's gone anyway.”

 

“Bucky-”

 

“Barnes will take care of himself. Just be Steve, yeah? I can help you.”

 

“Until the next dame turns your head,” Steve said bitterly.

 

“Um. Have you seen yourself? Because I don't think there _is_ a dame who could turn _anyone's_ head away from you.”

 

A flicker of a shy smile touched Steve's mouth and it made feel Tony feel infinitely better.

 

“If you want to wait for Bucky, I understand,” Tony heard his voice say, surprising him. “If you want... to fill the gap with me, that's fine too.”

 

“Fill... And what? Then just dump you if he decides to come in?”

 

Tony shrugged.

 

“Least I can do.”

 

“Oh, Tony. Tony, you're worth so much better than that.”

 

“Really not, but thanks for the sentiment, Ca-”

 

Steve kissed him.

 

_Really_ fucking kissed him. He was good at it, too, demanding and commanding and so very Captain America.

 

He drew back a little, eyes searching Tony's.

 

“Holy sh-” Tony started, but that was as far as he got before Steve was claiming his mouth again. He thought he might pass out, just through sheer lack of air, and he had to push away, gasping.

 

“I'm s-” Steve began, but Tony held up a hand.

 

“I'm _so_ not objecting, Cap. I just need to breathe a little more than you.”

 

Steve's lopsided grin, that one he'd given without realising it when Tony had nearly died taking that nuke into the portal, that one Tony secretly coveted curved his mouth.

 

“Just so we're clear,” Steve said softly. “This isn't foolin' around. And it's not just... just a filler... or whatever...”

 

“It... okay...” Tony said a little vaguely. It totally wasn't fair to expect him to function at one-hundred percent with Steve _smiling_ like that. “So... what it is it?”

 

“Hmm... new R and D,” Steve said, leaning in to kiss him again as he whispered; “With no Kill Codes...”


End file.
